Guardians of the Galaxy

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Written by KTP

Guardians of the Galaxy: A green chick, a tattooed wrestler, Chris Pratt, a tree, and a raccoon walk into a bar...

The next in line for Marvel's seemingly unstoppable set of films is Guardians of the Galaxy. Five space outlaws must come together and prevent an evil power from destroying a planet. At a basic level, it's essentially Marvel's bandit comedy version of Star Wars. Is that a bad thing? Nope. Is the film any good? Oh,yes.

Rocket tears shit up and also happens to be a talking raccoon.

The film centers around five unlikely heroes that form together to, uh, save the galaxy. Peter Quill, who goes by the unbeknown handle Starlord, hunts down an artifact looking for the big score. This puts him at odds with Gamora, an assassin who wants the artifact for herself. Chasing up to Peter is the duo of Rocket Raccoon (a bounty hunter with weapon and explosive expertise who just happens to have the body of a raccoon) and his partner Groot (Chewbacca that is a giant tree and says one line). Their internal conflict eventually allies with Drax, a psychotic who takes every line of dialog as literal. Their shaky alliance has them against Ronin: a fanatic hellbent on destroying the civilized world Xandar. Their roguish nature not only puts them at odds with themselves and their enemies, but their morality when the chance to cash out or save the world comes to light.

The set pieces are pretty nice and far away from your typical Marvel sets.

The biggest strength this movie has going for it is that there are no easily identifiable or mainstream superheroes in this film making it the best jumping point. Those that have no knowledge of Marvel or any interest of superhero films can enjoy this film if they have at least a passing interest in sci-fi, action, or comedy. This is also a movie that does all those interests right. Guardians of the Galaxy is probably one of the best multi-genre blends I have seen in a long time. While the story may focus a bit more on Starlord, the other characters are no slouches either. No character takes the backseat and all have enough depth to be enjoyable. You think Bautista just plays a tiny Hulk? That dude has some of the funniest lines. Groot? You'll see.

From a comic fans perspective, they got a lot of things right. The most important was the tone. This is Cosmic Marvel where uber-powered characters (Silver Surfer, Galactus, Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill, Thanos) are common and recurring characters. The Guardians were never over-powered, but a ragtag team using stupid luck and planning to pull themselves out of in-over-their-head situations. This movie has that in spades as the lovable losers take on bad guys that can easily mop the floor with them. Fans of the Cosmic Marvel will see a few nice cameos if you pay attention and a “I can see why they did it this way after seeing Green Lantern” iteration of the Nova Corps. But really? Glen Close that played Cruela de Ville as fucking NOVA PRIME? One day you'll have your moment to shine, Rich. It was also a little strange for the Kree and Ronin to be be the villains considering their place in the comics now, but it's passable.

Good job Marvel. Glen Close was the perfect choice for this badass.

How the hell did this happen? The Guardians, being B-listers by admission in their own books have somehow been in the best Marvel movie to date. The movie is hilarious, action packed, and great for fans of the comic series. If that strikes any sort of chords in you, then this movie is a must see. Go now.